On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 20:22:01 +0000, Oliver White wrote: > Hiya. I'm about to start work on some GIS programming in Perl, and > will likely end up with a few modules that might usefully go onto > CPAN. > >> From what I've read on the FAQs though, it seems like a bit of a >> minefield to >> > choose a name that someone else doesn't want,
See below. > and to find out if > anyone's already working in the same area. I did some searches on > the CPAN website for likely modules, while the documentation > suggests I ask on some mailing lists, which I presume includes this > one? Yes, and possibly a post on comp.lang.perl.modules. But this list is where the issues will be argued back and forth. > > As a first step, I was considering adding a module to read GSHHS > data [a binary format for coastline data] and give it a name > something like Geo::GSHHS. More info at the site: > http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/wessel/gshhs/gshhs.html > To help us understand the problem better, could you spell out 'GSHHS' and 'GIS'? > Any comments? Is this the right place to ask? Yes, this is *definitely* the right place to ask. > Is there already > code somewhere that does it? Would anyone be offended if I wrote > the module? > No one will take offense if you write the module, but (as you imply above) our fellow module-authors are picky about the names of new modules. One consideration here: In the last week or so, there has been discussion on this list re the general appropriateness of the 'Geo' namespace. It seems to be doing double-duty for both 'Geometry' and 'Geography' and some are advocating putting geographic modules in the 'Geography' namespace. I'm not sure where that discussion ended up; check the archives or Google it. But you might want to wait for that discussion to resolve before finalizing your own module's name. Jim Keenan
